Garment



June 6, 1967 A. BELDOCH 3323,1137

Filed Maroh 1965 ALBERT l. BELDOCH INVENTOR.

United States Patent O 3323,137 GARMENT Albert I. Beldoch, 1410lroadway, New York, N.Y. 10018 Filed Max. 5, 1965, Ser. N0. 437,528 2Claims. (C1. 293) This invention relates to wearing apparel. Moreparticularly, lt relates to improved garments which are highlycornfortable to Wear and are capable of providlng optirnum fits for thewearers thereof.

In the construction of a garrnent, the respective 100ations of thevarious necessary seams therein, their angle of disposition, and theirshape is determined by many factors, the more important of these factorsbeing comfort, proper fit and prevailing fashion or style.

Know garments are generally constructed to bang from the shoulder of thewearer and generally include shoulder seams which bear the bulk of theweight of the garment. With substantially all of the garments weight soconcentrated as to bear along respective Single narrow seams, thereconsequently results disco-mfort to the wear@r of the garment because ofsuch weight pressing on a narrow and uneven bumpy area of the humanhody.

These shoulder searns in known garrnents usually are disposed in astraight line substantially horizontal from the neck to the armhole ofthe garment. However, the human shoulder does not lie in a straight linelaut, in fact, curves downwardly from the neck toward the armhole andgently slopes toward the front of the body. Since these anatornlcalfacts have not been considered in the design of known garrnents and thedisposition f the aforesaid shoulder seams therein, the consequence hasbeen the dlfficulty of providing a proper and total fit therewith Sincethe bulk of the weight of the garrnent is substantially concentrated-along the aforesaid narrow shoulder searn, substantlally all of theStress applied to the garment in its wear due to body movements alsotends to be concentrated at this seam. With such stress constantlyacting on the seam, in -addition to the resulting discornfort producedthereby, there is also an increased tendency for the seam to be rippedopen 01' to be torn.

It is, cf course, to be noted that sorne known garment shoulderconstruction types such as raglan, saddle and the like, substantiallyeliminate the problems nor' mally encountered in the employrnent ofseamed shoulder constructions, viz., problems such as discornfort, poorfit, tendency to tear and rip, etc. However, as is well known, suchraglan and saddle, etc. constructions do not provide the advantages ofthe more desirable set-in sleeve arrangements.

Accordingly, it is an important object of 1El1is invention to provide animproved set-in sleeve type garment construction which proVides betterqualities of fit, comfort and life of wear as compared to knownconstructions of like type.

Generally speking and in accordance with the invention, there isprovided a garrnent having a centrally disposed neckline comprising =afront portion and a rear portion, the front portion having an upper edgewhich comprises a centrally disposed roughly circular concave necklineedge forming section which encloses an area greater than the total areenclosed by the neckline, and a pair of lateral edge sections extendinglatera-lly upwardly frorn the opposite ends of the concave edge sectionrespectively. The front portion also compn'ses side edges which have atupper parts thereof substantially vertically disposed arrnhole formlngconcave eclge sections respectiVely, the lateral end points of the frontportion lateral edge sections making respective junctions with 3,323137Patented June 6, 1967 the upper end points of the arrnhole concave edgesections. The rear portion has an upper edge which comprises a centrallydisposed substantially horizontal meckline forming section and a pair oflateral edge setions extending laterally downwardly from the oppositeends of the rear portion neckline forrning edge section, the rearportion comprising side edges which cornprise, at the upper partsthereof, armhole forrning concave edgfi: sections respectively, thelateral end points of the rear lateral edge sections making respectiveright junctions With the upper end points o-f the rear armhole concaveedge sections. Searns are provided which join opposing respectivelateral edge sections t0 de=fine a closed arc neckline, the searnsextending from respectively symmetrically disposed points to the rear ofthe side to side rnidline of the area enclosed by the neckline laterallydownwardly t0 respective syrnn1etrically disposed points 011 thearrnhole forming concave edge sections f the rear portion.

For a better understanding of the lnvention together With other andfurther objects thereof, reference is had to the following descriptiontaken in conjunction With the accornpanying drawing and its scope willbe pointed out in the appended clairns.

In the drawing, FIG. 1 shows in front elevation, the front portion of agarrnent c0nstructed in accordance With the principles cf the invention;

FIG. 2 shows in elevation, the rear portion of the garment;

FIG. 3 is an exploded type view showing which edges of the -portionsshown in FIGS. 1 and 2 are joined t0 construct the garment; and

FIG. 4 is a three-dimensional view of the assembled garment.

Referring now t0 the drawing, the front portion 10 thereof as shown inFIG. 1 has an upper edge which cornprises a centrally disposed necklineforming edge section 12 and a pair of lateral edge se=ctions 14 and 16respectively which extend from the end points of section 12 in an upwardlateral direction. Front portion 10 comprises side edges, the left edgehaving an upper concave part 18 and a substantially straight part 20,the rlght edge having an upper concave part 22 configured to besubstantially hilaterally symmetrical wlth concave part 18 and asubstantially straight part 24 substantially coextensive in length Withpart 20. Dashed line areas 26 and 28 indlcate how sleeves ma-y be Setthereinto. It 1's to be noted that the area 13 enclosed by front portionneckline edge section 12 is more than that of a semicircle, thesignificance of which is explained further hereinbelow.

The rear portion 26 cornprises an upper edge Which has a centrallydisposed neckline forming edge section 28 and two lateral substantiallysymmetrical edge sections 30 and 32 respectively which extend laterallydownwa-rdly from the ends of neckline forming edge section 28. The sideedges of rear portion 26 cornprise upper symmetrical conca-ve parts 34and 38 respectively and lower straight parts 36 and 40 respectively,edge parts 36 and 40 being substantially equal in length toeach otherand to edge parts 20 and 24 in front portion 10. As seen in FIGS. 1 and2, lateral edge portions 14 and 16 make junctions With upper parts 18and 22 respectively in the front portion 10 and lateral edge portions 30and 32 make junctions With upper arts 34 and 38 respectively in rearportion 26.

FIG. 3 shows how the various edges of front and rear portions 10 and 26of the garrnent are joined by searns to provide the constructed garrnentof FIG. 4. It is noted that the seams 16-30 and 14-32, because of theselection of front portion neckline forming section 12 to have anarcuate circumference greater than that of a semicirclc, and theproviding of laterally upward'ly extending edge sections 14 and 16, runfrom points 42 and 44 n the neckline defined by edge sections 13 and 28which are symmetrically disposed and to the rear of the side to sidedia-rneter 055 the area encloscd by the neckline. The respectivear-rnholes are defined by the forrning of seams 1630, 14-32, 2436 and20-40 (not visible) seams 1630 and 1432 cxtending to points 46 and 48 onthe respective armholcs. As is seen, points 46 and 48 are to the rear ofthe side to side midplane of the garrnent whereby seams 1630 and 1432 donot run along the tops cf the shoulders but along the back of thegarrnent.

By locating seams 1630 and 1432 at the back of the garment instead ofalong the tops of the shoulders, the fabric constituting the garmentlying over the whole area presented by the sh0ulders absorbs tl1e weightof the garment and distributes it equally. Also the elimination ofshoulder located searns greatly enhances the comfort 0f the garment asexperienced by a wearer thereof and thcre is no conscious pressure feltby the wearer of the gar-ment.

Furthermore, the climination of the shoulder locatcd seams permits ofimproved fits not possible with shoulder sean'1ed garments. This resultssince, With the elimination of the shoulder sca=ms, the garment fabriclies on top of and across the shoulder along a slight bias. This biasprovides an added elasticity which perrnits the fabric to mold itse-lfto the shoulder and conform to its shape as contrasted with the need forthe shoulder t0 conform to the shape of a searn.

It is of course apprcciatedthat tl1e elimination of the shoulder locatedsearns in accordance with the invention results in increasedattractiveness of the garment. Thus whereas in a garment with shoulderseams, sharp hard lines are visible along the shoulders giving thegarment a square unattractivc look, the eliminating of the shoulderseams and locating them at the back as described hereinabove, perrnitsthc garrnent to fall more naturally 011 the wearer thereof, therebycreating its own shoulder line.

Most important, it is to be noted that the location of the seams 011 theback of the garment transfers the stress due to body movcments fr0rnthin relatively weak searn lines to a much larger a1ea 0f the fabric,i.e., that area covering the shoulders, where the stress issubstantially uniformly distributed.

Referring back to FIG. 2 which shows the rear portion of the garment, itis to be noted that the downward angles from which lateral edge sections30 and 32 extcnd from the ends of neckline forming edge scction 28 isgreater than the angle present in the rear portions of known garments.Because of such greatcr angles, the junction 31 of edge sections 30 and34 and the junction 33 of edge sections 32 and 38 result inshoulder-armholc intersections Which are substantially lower withrespect to the shoulder-neckline intersection than in knowrr garments.lt is within the conte-rnplation of the invention that the downwardangles of edges 30 and 32 be chosen such that the respectiveshoulder-armhole intersections occur at lower points such as about 2% to3% inches lower than the shoulder-neckline inte1secti0ns. It is alsowithin the contemplation of the invention to provide a contour for rearportion 26 whercby the shoulder meckline intersection is about 2 inchlower than in known garrnents.

Similarly With regard to front portion 10, as shown in FIG. 1, lt iswithin the contemplation of tl1e invention to have like dispositions ofcorrcsponding intersections.

While therc has been described what is considered t0 be a preferredembodiment of the invention, it Will be obvious to those skllled in theart that other modifications and chan-ges may bc made therein withoutdeparting frorn the invention and it is accordingly, intended in theappended clairns to cover all such modifications as fall within thespirit and scope of the invention.

What is claimed as new and desired to be securcd by Letters Patent ofthe United States is:

1. A garmcnt cornprising front and rear portions, said front portionhaving an upper edge which comprises a centrally disposed roughlycircular concave neckline forming section enclosing an area greater thana semicircle and a pair of lateral edge sections extending laterallyupward frorn opposite ends of said concave section respectively, saidfront portion having side edges comprising upper part arrnhole f-Orrningconcave edge sections respectively, the lateral end points of saidlateral edge sections making respective first junctions With the upperend points of said armhole forrning concave edge sections, said rearportion having an upper edge which cornprises a centrally disposedsubstantially horizontal neckline forming edge section and a pair oflateral edge sections extending laterally downwardly frorn the oppositeends respectively 0f said rear neckline forming section, said rearportion having side edges comprising upper part arrnhole forming concaveedge sections respectively, the lateral end points of said rear portionlateral edge sections making second junctions with the upper encl pointsof said rear armhole concave edge sections, seams joining opposing frontand rear lateral edge sections, said searns extending from respectivelysubstantially symmetrically first disposed points on said necklinc tothe back of the side to side diameter of said neckline to respectivesecond symmetrical points on the armhole forming concave edge sectionsof said rear portion.

2. A garrnent as defined in claim 1 in Which the angles forrncd by saidrear portion lateral edge sections with said rcar portion necklineforming se-ction are so chosen whereby said second junctions are from 2%to 3% inches below the and points of said rear ortion neckline formingedgc section.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2212,719 8/1940 Prouty 2932403598 7/ 1946 Hochfelder 293 2491001 12/1949 Croonborg 293 JORDANFRANKLIN, Primazy Examiner.

G, KRIZMANICH Assistant Examiner,

1. A GARMENT COMPRISING FRONT AND REAR PORTIONS, SAID FRONT PORTIONHAVING AN UPPER EDGE WHICH COMPRISES A CENTRALLY DISPOSED ROUGHLYCIRCULAR CONCAVE NECKLINE FORMING SECTION ENCLOSING AN AREA GREATER THANA SEMICIRCLE AND A PAIR OF LATERAL EDGE SECTIONS EXTENDING LATERALLYUPWARD FROM OPPOSITE ENDS OF SAID CONCAVE SECTION RESPECTIVELY, SAIDFRONT PORTION HAVING SIDE EDGES COMPRISING UPPER PART ARMHOLE FORMINGCONCAVE EDGE SECTIONS RESPECTIVELY, THE LATERAL END POINTS OF SAIDLATERAL EDGE SECTIONS MAKING RESPECTIVE FIRST JUNCTIONS WITH THE UPPEREND POINTS OF SAID ARMHOLE FORMING CONCAVE EDGE SECTIONS, SAID REARPORTION HAVING AN UPPER EDGE WHICH COMPRISES A CENTRALLY DISPOSEDSUBSTANTIALLY HORIZONTAL NECKLINE FORMING EDGE SECTION AND A PAIR OFLATERAL EDGE SECTIONS EXTENDING LATERALLY DOWNWARDLY FROM THE OPPOSITEENDS RESPECTIVELY OF SAID REAR NECKLINE FORMING SECTION, SAID REARPORTION HAVING SIDE EDGES COMPRISING UPPER PART ARMHOLE FORMING CONCAVEEDGE SECTIONS RESPECTIVELY, THE LATERAL END POINTS OF SAID REAR PORTIONLATERAL EDGE SECTIONS MAKING SECOND JUNCTIONS WITH THE UPPER END POINTSOF SAID REAR ARMHOLE CONCAVE EDGE SECTIONS, SEAMS JOINING OPPOSING FRONTAND REAR LATERAL EDGE SECTIONS, SAID SEAMS EXTENDING FROM RESPECTIVELYSUBSTANTIALLY SYMMETRICALLY FIRST DISPOSED POINTS ON SAID NECKLINE TOTHE BACK OF THE SIDE TO SIDE DIAMETER OF SAID NECKLINE TO RESPECTIVESECOND SYMMETRICAL POINTS ON THE ARMHOLE FORMING CONCAVE EDGE SECTIONSOF SAID REAR PORTION.